About $100 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits started reaching Pennsylvanians Friday in a major victory for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration. Shapiro, at a news conference Friday at North Philadelphia’s Share Food,

As the court battle played out through the day, at least nine states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, had already begun issuing SNAP benefits.

Shapiro said his successful lawsuit filed in the wake of the Trump administration’s refusal to release SNAP funds November 1, will immediately free up funds for millions who rely on the federal supplemental food program.

SNAP recipients owed payments on Nov. 1 could see the full amount on their cards as early as Nov. 7, PA Gov. Shapiro announced today at a presser.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said residents who receive SNAP benefits should start seeing money in their accounts soon. Cuts to the funds have ripple effects on the local economy.

A back-and-forth court battle has led to further uncertainty for the food assistance program, which serves close to 1 million people in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Shapiro declared a disaster, allowing the state to tap into $5 million of funding to assist food banks, but they are not expecting it to be enough to meet the demand.

Alexis Miller first encountered Jim and Janet Bowers when she commissioned their bakery in Shamokin, to make her wedding cake. “We didn’t have a lot of money or time,” Miller said. Miller, who was 24 at the time,